


Singing This One Like a Broken Piece of Glass

by WorkingChemistry



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Bruce brings the kids over, Child Abuse, Descendants Au, Drug Abuse, Found Family, Gen, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, The three boys and Stephanie are raised by villains
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28327617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorkingChemistry/pseuds/WorkingChemistry
Summary: Once upon a time, long long ago—well, nineteen years ago—two wealthy gothamites were murdered in an alley. Three shots were fired, but one missed and a bouncing baby boy was left to fend for himself in this cold, cruel world.Only, he wasn’t really alone. See this little baby was rich and that meant he had a whole flock of less rich people catering to his every need. Or rather, he had people to decide that his need was to live in a happy little bubble.Then a whole bunch of really fun people were shipped off to the Isle of the Lost. Criminals, the mentally ill, the poor. Anyone they decided didn’t fit the wholesome description they wanted to portray to the other countries. And once Gotham started dumping it’s undesirables offshore, everyone else joined in too.But now, baby boy’s all grown up. Twenty-eight and ready to rule the world… or at least, his legacy.
Relationships: Damian Wayne & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Honestly way too many to tag on this Christmas evening, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown & Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown & Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne
Comments: 7
Kudos: 57





	Singing This One Like a Broken Piece of Glass

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! This AU is my gift to me so I hope y’all enjoy it. Lol.

A lot of the kids don’t remember the Before. Dick barely does. He mostly remembers kind hands, rough with callouses, tossing him in the air and teaching him to fall. 

Then teaching him to fly. 

Dick’s family had just barely missed the wealth cut off for the mainland and had been shipped overseas without a second thought. They’d been too kind, too honest, for the sort of government that had been enacted on The Isle by the ruthless. They’d decided integrity was the most important when they hadn’t paid their dues. 

It was sheer dumb luck that Dick hadn’t fallen with them. 

It’s alright though, he can think back on them fondly. Long nights sleeping in the RV while his mom or dad drove to their next stop with the circus. He was only one when it happened, but his mom told him that once they performed for the Waynes. She’d bragged about it. 

So really, it wasn’t a surprise that they wound up dead. 

Dick grapples up the crumbled steeple to stand on his tiptoes at the tip top, reaching out like somehow he can touch the sun. It’s probably just the faded memory of a toddler, but somehow he doesn’t ever remember the mainland being so… cold. 

“Oh good. You’re gonna break your neck for me.” Steph’s voice calls out seconds before her knife nicks a hole in his new leggings. 

Unamused, Dick flips her off before he flips down from his perch. He’s traversed this path so many times he could do it in his sleep. Slade’s certainly made him find his way down more treacherous paths blindfolded under worse conditions, so there’s no reason for his hand to slip on the last grip when he sees new bruises that Tim’s white face paint can’t quite hide. 

Trying to pass his gaffe off as a joke, Dick pretends to stumble back at the sight of Jason. One hand clutches at his chest, even as he ruffles Jason’s curls with the other. There’s so much soured gel in those stands that his fingers come away tacky…. and red.

He wipes what he hopes is hair gel off onto his ruined leggings and peers around for the disaster that must have occurred to bring them to the chapel. “What’s up?”

“They’re inside.” Tim points with his thumb, one side of his face spasming in and out of a grin while the other half stays stroke-frozen. A few giggles escape, grin turning to grimace. “All of them.”

Ah. Well, that would explain the tears Jason can’t quite hide as he tries to swirl each curl back into place. Tim moves to help, but his hands shake so badly that he makes it worse and gives up with a tired shrug.

Dick got lucky, with Slade. 

“C’mon, losers. We gots places to be.” Steph’s grin is as maniacal as Tim’s when he’s hopped up on Gas as she grabs Jason and Tim by the shoulders and shoves them forward. 

Her hands are gentle, though, when she lets go and messes with Jason’s hair in just the right way to make it lay nice again. 

Dick pretends not to notice, instead he hooks his arm around Tim’s neck and squeezes just enough that he knows the boy is struggling to breathe. “So, your pops all decided to pay Slade a visit. Any clue why?”

It’s cruel, but he doesn’t release until Tim hits him in the nose hard enough it stings. 

Tim doesn’t bend over to catch his breath, but he does hunch in a little more; laughs a little harder on each exhale. “Dunno. Papa Jay didn’t say when he woke me up and Mama Harley’s… Harley’s with Ivy again.”

“Good for her.” Jason mutters, dragging the sides of his fingers along the edges of his eyes. It’s something about not smudging his eyeliner, or so he said the one time Dick asked. “I mean, sucks for you, but good for her.”

“Roman said he needs me to set up shop somewhere.” Steph shrugs and cleans off the excess gel in her ratty blond locks. It always looks teased with three or four smaller braids that mimic a shaved side before falling halfway out at the ends. Jason always ties them off with brightly colored thread when he puts them in, but she always loses the ties within the hour. “Jason?”

“Pyg said…” Jason sucks in his bottom lip, head tilted at an angle that always means he’s thinking rather than playing the ditzy doll for his parents. “Well, Pyg is Pyg. Harvey’s here though. He and two-face flipped for it.”

“And Penguin?” Dick slows his steps, making the others match his pace. There’s a reason he’s the leader of their alliance, and it’s not because he’s got the nicest ‘dad’. Dick has earned his place as Renegade and he’s deeply possessive of what’s his. A meeting between their parents isn't unusual, but it is rare. Dick wants to know what’s worth the risk. 

Jason swallows, hands fidgeting with his tie. They let him wear a suit today, a pinstripe blue that hugs his thighs before hanging straight down. The unbuttoned jacket is clearly a women’s cut, sleeves open like a cape that flares down to his waist. “Penguin said I was finally going to earn my keep, and then made me pack.”

“So everyone’s cryptic today.” Dick flicks out a knife blade and gives it a couple tosses. “Slade also made me pack.” 

“Think they’re sending us to the other side of the Isle?” Stephanie asks. 

Tim shakes his head in response. The fingers of one hand tap out a rhythm on his ribs over his tattered lime green button up. One arm of his purple suit jacket still hangs free, having not slipped it on. “They wouldn’t send us, not together. They don’t like our alliance.” His teeth chatter, “This is a show. Someone new has made a play and we’re being sent to put them in place.”

“Lucky us, we’re really good at that.” Dick grins, even as he has to give Jason a shove forward into the chapel. 

Their bosses, adoptive parents in some cases, all turn to look at them as one. 

Dick moves smoothly to Slade’s side. It’s a comfortable position, he knows that little will make it past him. If it does, Slade will finish it off before he can be badly injured. It’s more than some of his allies can boast. 

Stephanie slinks over to Roman, looking out of place without her matching mask.

Tim leaves Jason’s side at the last minute, though for whose protection it isn’t clear. He takes the swipe Joker makes at his head, giggling as he tumbles to the floor. 

Joker doesn’t spare Tim a glance as he turns to sneer at Jason. “What’s the broken birdy doing here?”

“If anything’s broken it's your babbling mutt.” Pyg doesn’t react, for once. Instead Pyg strokes over Jason’s sharp cheekbones with the loving hands of a carpenter. “Leave my beautiful doll out of it. He was built for this.”

There are tears gathering in Jason’s eyes, but the last time someone had implied Jason was broken in Pyg’s presence… well, Dick had worried they’d be right afterward. This is better.

It has to be better. 

“Anyone care to share with the crowd?” Stephanie smacks her gum, hands in her suit pockets as she slouches. 

Roman seems in an indulgent mood, patting her head with a chuckle. He usually is indulgent in front of others, Dick really only has to worry about Steph when she’s left alone with her Boss. “Settle down, darling. Let the grown ups talk.”

“Then talk.” Dick can’t help but hiss under his breath. 

It gets him a warning flick of Slade’s gaze, but it’s quickly returned to the rest of the room. “Gentlemen, Ladies, please.”

Jason’s lip twitches up just the barest centimeter at the not so subtle jibe. Steph’s the only woman in the room, but Slade’s made no secret of his distaste for Jason over the years. Thankfully, Jason knows better than to react further and his eyes remain downcast.

Dick turns his attention back to Slade before he can be caught watching the others. His mentor has moved to the center of the room. “We have one chance, that’s it. There will be no sabotaging of each other’s playthings, not if we want a chance of getting off the Isle.”

Off the Isle? 

Dick finds himself straightening despite his best efforts to appear disinterested. Stephanie and Jason both tilt their heads, more alike than they’d ever want to admit. Even Timmy pulls himself up from where he’d fallen to the floor so he can pay attention. 

Slade notices and turns to talk to them directly. “You four have been chosen by Wayne as part of some charity project. You’re going to play nice until you can figure out how to get us off the Isle too.”

“Wayne’s…” Jason flinches and chews on his lip, clearly already regretting speaking up. He’s many things, but a coward he’s not, so he finishes. “Wayne’s a figurehead. He doesn’t have the authority to—“

“You’re here to be pretty, no one asked you to think.” Penguin’s umbrella cracks down on the side of Jason’s head hard enough that Dick can’t fully suppress his sympathetic wince. 

Two Face, or Harvey is the one Jason said it was today, swipes at the umbrella protectively. “Leave the kid alone. He has a point. Brucie has regents taking care of things for him.”

“He’s twenty-eight now.” Slade says. “More than old enough to have taken over and he’s slowly weaseling back his power. If this is how he wants to squander it, who are we to judge?”

“When do we leave?” Dick cuts through the posturing and the chatter to get to the meat of it. He needs to know if he has time to gather supplies from their secret stashes. 

Slade doesn’t smile approvingly like his dad might have, but he does give a small nod. “You have thirty minutes. Get what you can and be ready.”

“I need to pack.” Tim launches himself halfway across the room before Joker can think to protest.

The man—creature really— cackles so hard he tips over. 

Jason starts to stand, but Pyg tuts and jerks him back down by his hair. “Don’t chew on your lip unless you want to chew it off.” 

Dick can’t leave Tim alone, but Jason…

Stephanie gives a dramatic yawn and drapes herself against the wall. “Guess here’s as good a place as any to kill time.” 

Dick can’t send her his gratitude, but he feels it nonetheless. 

And then he goes to find Tim. 

Gathering supplies is quick, as is packing up Tim’s things. The most important stuff is all in their hideout, tucked away from Joker and Harley. Tim packs it back into a satchel he can sling over one shoulder. 

He jerks when Dick pauses to rest his chin on Tim’s head. “Hey, when was your last dose?”

“Uhmmm.” Tim’s fingers tap against his thigh as he counts back. “What day is it?”

“Saturday.”

“Oh. Well I remember Thursday.” Tim shifts from one foot to the other. “How much do we have in the stash?” 

“Enough to wean you off over the next two weeks.” Dick pulls back to tug Tim’s hood up over his green hair. The black roots are starting to show through again, they’ll need to fix that before Joker notices. “Less if you want to stay on it.”

“I don’t…” Tim turns to look up at Dick pleadingly. The decision isn’t one either of them want to make. 

Dick shrugs and casts one more glance around hideout simply so he won’t have to take responsibility. “I’m sure there’ll be chem labs somewhere. You can always make more if you need it.”

“I can…” Tim tightens his grip around the bag. “I can make more. Okay.”

The idea of Tim staying on gas any longer is enough to make Dick nauseous as they jog back to the others. They don’t really have other options though. If they put him through withdrawal, it’ll only make it worse when Joker gets hold of him again. 

They used to try and Dick never wants to see the result ever again. 

Jason’s lips are bright red when they return. Blood or rouge it’s hard to say, but it does dribble down at the corners. His gaze is vacant—the perfect doll. 

When Dick shoots a glance to Stephanie, she merely swipes her hand against one pant leg. 

No danger.

The rumble of a car engine startles everyone but Slade. 

Tim is the first to react. He darts over to Jason’s side and picks up the older boy’s pack. With a lucidity he really only displays for Jason, Tim bows and offers his elbow to Jason. 

“Such a gentleman.” Harvey croons approvingly. 

Jason’s smile is perfect but empty as he takes the offered elbow and allows himself to be led out the door. The clip of his heels on stone follows him out. 

Once they get off this Isle, their first priority is Jason. They can’t be having one half of their genius pair off in lala land because Pygg decided it was time to scramble his doll’s brains again. 

“Well, I suppose I’d better follow suit, hmm?” Dick throws his own things over his shoulder to pick up Stephanie’s bag.

Before he can offer her his elbow, she offers him hers. “I’m the one in the suit, little boy blue.” 

“Somehow I missed that memo.” Dick chuckles and slips his free hand in the crook of her elbow. “I expect it to be hand delivered next time.”

“No promises. You know how absolutely packed my schedule is.” 

“Yes, yes. People to terrorize, grandmas to torture.” 

She just tosses her tattered mane of blond hair and laughs. Her gold molar flashes briefly in the sunlight before she sobers up. “Think it’s a trap?”

Dick looks at the long black car in front of them and then shoots a glance back at Slade. 

The only response is a narrow eyed glare. 

“I don’t know. I don’t see how it could be anything else.” He admits, turning back to watch Tim carefully help Jason up into the limo. “But I know that if it’s not, and we fail, we’re going to regret it.”

Stephanie smiles again, her expression grim. “What else is new? Lets go help giggles before Jason takes his eye out with those stilettos.”

**Author's Note:**

> Title from The Blues by Switchfoot


End file.
